LOUDER!: a hearing test
Those that know me know, I like things loud when it comes to music . . . I like to “feel” the drums not just hear them (I’m sure I’m pretty deaf by now, so all you hearing safety people . . . I know . . . ). But there is another thought that’s been on my mind about “volume” . . .
I was part of a worship service a while back that was one of the greatest times ever . . . people were singing loud, the band was forgetting about the performance, all voices in the room were singing at the top of their lungs . . . it was truly an awe inspiring moment.
But in the middle of all of the great chaos something was telling me . . . “louder”, and that word just kept coming to my mind for days after that . . . my spirit kept hearing “your worship needs to be louder”
I’m not talking about the volume of what comes out of our mouth or our instruments . . . what is the volume of what’s coming out of our hearts? . . . our lives? . . . as amazing as times of group worship are, if we go back home and choose to remain “silent” what’s the point . . . we can blow the roof off of the place in singing, but if the world never hears us, we’ve failed . . .
A lot of times we rely on our weekend worship experience to “energize” us for the coming week, and that’s necessary . . . but how much more exciting would it be if we . . . as worship leaders, band members, church goers . . . would allow our corporate times of worship to be an overflow of what we’ve been living and saying all week?
Just a thought: If our greatest act of worship is what we play, sing or preach on the weekend, then we might have just fallen short . . . it’s the life we live as a whole that is the greatest act of service to God . . . it’s not about the performance or the presentation. . . it’s about our hearts preparation and approach . . .
This is not really a new great thought or anything, it’s just one that is worth saying every once in a while to remind us there is a world out there that might not ever hear the volume of our “worship service”. The only music they will ever hear is what’s coming out of our lives . . . and based on that we are all “musicians” in Gods “orchestra”. . . let’s all make sure that our lives and hearts are the loudest thing the world hears . . . not just our songs and sermons . . .
Your comment about our Sunday worship service being an overflow of our life during the week is a great point, and a great challenge. As an educator who spends his week in front of children it is convicting for me to think about how much more my impact would be “amplified” if God is, as you have said, “the source” of what I do. The thought is also convicting when I think of my role as a husband and parent. What does it say to my child if she only sees me worship on Sunday? Thanks for sharing your thoughts I look forward to reading more of them. W.C.B.
Amazing.
Thanks for the reminder Joe!
wow. I read this months later and it still hits home.